Man who mugged 83-year-old caught by Marathon runner in Cork city after 15-minute chase

A man who mugged an 83-year-old woman in Cork city Center got more than he bargained for when he was chased down by a man who was training for the Cork City Marathon.
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A man who mugged an 83-year-old woman in Cork city Center got more than he bargained for when he was chased down by a man who was training for the Cork City Marathon.

The elderly woman had just left a restaurant on Patrick Street at 9.50pm on Wednesday night when the mugger knocked her to the ground and grabbed her handbag which was said to contain €180 and a mobile phone. A young man from Glanmire in County Cork, who was out celebrating his 24th birthday, heard her cries of distress and took off after the mugger.

He called to the people ahead of him to stop the man but, when nobody took action, he proceeded to run after the mugger in a chase that lasted 15 minutes. He also retrieved some items from the handbag that the man had thrown into the river. The guards arrested the mugger, who is also in his 20s and is now due to appear in court.

The heroic Glanmire man said he didn’t want to be named and did what any other decent person would have done under the circumstances. Superintendent Barry McPolin, who is in charge of policing in the city centre, said: “The young man who assisted in this incident should be commended for his civic spirit. It was obvious that he was extremely fit because he was able to keep running for so long.”

A friend of the marathon man said: “He didn’t hesitate and he was in training for the Cork City Marathon so he was always going to keep up with the man who stole the handbag,” the Irish Examiner reports.